Incandescent-lamp socket.



No. 654,433. Patented July 24, I900.

w. B. BRAGDON.

INCANDESCENT LAMP SOCKET.

(Application filed Oct. 81, 1899.\

(No Model.)

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\VILLIAM B. BRAGDON, OF CUMBERLAND MILLS, MAINE,ASSIGNOR TO S. D. WARREN& 00., OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

INCANDESCENT-ELAMP SOCKET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No %,433, dated July 24,1900. Application filed ctober 31, 1899. Serial No. 735,398. (No model.)i

lowing description, in connection with the ac-' cor'npanying drawings,is a specification, like Characters on the drawings representing likeparts. v

This invention relates to sockets for incandescent lamps; and the objectof the invention is to provide an improved device of this characterespecially adapted for use in breweries, refrigerating plants, and otherplaces where the air is laden with considerable moisture or dampness andwhich ordinarily condenses upon the lamp-socket or near the same.

By myimproved construction it is not pos sible for condensed moisture toreach the conductors or to bridge the same at or near the lamp, as insuch cases as these the lamp might be burned out or the currentshortcircuited before it reaches said lamp.

I use the term incandescent-lamp socket as a generic one, it beingunderstood that the socket is adapted to receive many other types oftranslating devices than lamps.

The improved socket shown in the drawings in a simple and convenientembodiment thereof includes in its construction certain peculiar andadvantageous features, which will be hereinafter set forth and claimed.In the drawings, Figure lis a plan view of the socket and itsconnection. Fig. 2 is a transverse central section of said socket, thelower portion of the right-hand conductor being shown in section, andFig. 3 is a side elevation of the same.

The socket illustrated is designated in a general way by S, and itincludes in its make up a socket proper, or what I shall term forconvenience a case or jacket 12,the latter being made of some suitableelectro non-conducting material, as porcelain, and-having in the presentcase a water-shed 13; The watershed 13 is shown as integral with thecase or jacket 12, and said parts may be made from porcelain oranalogous moisture-proof material. The water-shed or hood 13 is shown ascircular in outline and as overhanging the case or jacket 12, and itsupper surface is sloped or substantially spherical, so that drops ofwater that may lodge upon the same from above can readily pass 0 Theconductors orleading-in wires are dlesignated, respectively, by 14 and15 and are conneoted in some suitable manner (not shown) to the main orother kind of electric supplying agency, and said conductors or wiresare made up of a multiplicity of twisted strands covered with electroinsulating jacketing, which should always be waterproof or amoistureresistant, rubber tubing constituting a convenient insulationfor said conductors. The conductors or wires lead into the interior ofthe socket 12 at diametrically-opposite points through openings, as 16and 17, located below and protected by the water-shed or overhanginghood 13, said hood serving to prevent access of moisture or condensedwater which may fall upon the same to the said openings, although othersafeguards are provided to secure this same advantageous result, therebyto positively guard against short-circuiting by the collection ofmoisture, The insulated coverings of the cenductors may be convenientlyformed from rubber tubing, as previously set forth,and the samearedenoted, respectively, by 18 and 19, and they extend from a pointabovethe socket in an unbroken or continuous manner to a 'point within thecase, and they are positively separated from each other, so that nochannels or gutters can be formed by the same, as would be the casenecessarily were they to come in contact.

The conductors are bared at the places where they connect with theterminals, said conductors and terminals constituting, as usual, an opencircuit controllable byaswitch (not shown) mounted upon the socket. Theterminals are denoted, respectively, by T and T. The terminal T is inthe nature of an internally-threaded sleeve or thimble rigidly held inthe case 12 in suitable manner and adapted to receive the'exteriorly-threaded projection upon alamp or like device; (Not shown.)The lower endof the terminal T is flared outward to bring it intocontact with p the adjacent cylindrical face of the case 12, and itsopen upper end is surrounded by the inturned annular flange or shoulder20,

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fits against the under side of said disk, and p the bared lower end ofthewire 14: is received within the opening in the boss'orstem 22.

The bared portion at the lower end of the conductor 15 is united in somesuitable manner, as by solder 23, to the upper inner side of thethimble-like terminal T.

the jacket or case 12 is preferably entirely filled with some electronon-conducting and heat-resisting substance, as 24, sulfur being welladapted to this purpose. This substance surrounds and electricallyseparates the bared portions of the conductors 14: and 15 where they arelocated in the case, and it also enters the openings 16 and 17 andcompletely closes the same. In addition to its specified functionpreviously set forth the substance 24 also serves to hold the terminalor contact T in place.

In practice the substance 24 is poured into the inside of the jacket inits molten state, and it may be introduced through the fillingopening25, shown as formed in the top of the socket.

The socket has upon its upper side, at substantially its middle, thevertical projection or offset 30, having the separated openings 31 and32, through which the conductors 14 and 15, respectively, are adapted topass, the said projection serving to positively separate the twoconductors, as in case they are brought into contiguity a trough wouldbe formed in which moisture could collect. The leading-in Wires extendoppositely through the openings in the projection, and they are bentdownwardly and outwardly, as shown in Fig. 2, to form loop or lobeshaped projections, which are adapted by this construction to shedmoisture below the hood. The two conductors, as previously set forth,extend through the side openings 16 and 17in the jacket or case 12 andare connected to the two terminals. After the connection of the twoconductors, in the manner indicated, to the terminal the molten sulfur24 will be poured through the filling-opening 25 and will entirely fillthe space and also surround the bared portion of the conductors, as wellas theirinsulation, and will flowinto the openings 16 and 17, wherebyall interstices will be thoroughly closed again st moisture.

The invention is not limited to the precise details herein set forth,for these can be variously modified within the scope of the accompanyingclaims.

Having fully described my invention, What I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. An incandescent-lamp socket consisting of a case provided with ahood, said case having openings in its walls below the hood, ter- Thedisk 21 has a central opening to' The space between said terminal andthe inner wall of minals in said case, electric conductors leading intothe case through the openings, and each provided with continuousinsulation from a point above the socket to a point within the case, anda projection upon thehood having openings to receive and separate saidconductors.

' 2. An incandescent-lamp socket consisting of a case provided with ahood, the case having openings below the hood, and the hood having afilling opening, terminals in the case, conductors passing through saidopenings below the hood and connected with the terminals, saidconductors being insulated continuously from a point above the socket toa point within said case, and a filling of moisture-proof material inthe case.

3. An incandescent-lamp socket consisting of a case provided with ahood, the hood having a projection upon the upper side thereof and afilling-opening, and the case having openings below the hood, terminalsin the case, and two leadingin wires extending through the openings insaid projection and also through the openings below the hood andconnected with the terminals, said conductors being insulatedcontinuously from a point above the socket to a point within the case.

4. An incandescent-lamp socket including a case having separatedopenings, a watershedding hood located to protect said openings,terminals in the case, a projection upon the upper side of the hoodhaving separated openings serving to hold the conductors out of contact,two conductors passing throughsaid openings in the projection andthrough the openings in the case, and being connected to said terminalsand said conductors having continuous insulation from a point above saidprojection to points inside of the case, and a filling of moisture-proofelectro nonconducting materialin the case and surrounding the conductorswhere they are united to the terminals.

5. An incandescent lamp including a case having openings and providedwith a hood to shed condensates or other moisture before it can reachsaid openings, terminals in the case, conductors electrically connectedwith said terminals, said conductors being covered with continuousmoisture-proof, insulating material from a point adjacent saidterminals, to a point remote from the case and bent downwardly andoutwardly before their entrance to the case to form moisture-sheddinglobes, means upon the hood for positively holding said conductors out ofcontact, and moisture-proof insulating material within said bodyintermediatethe terminals.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM B. BRAGDON.

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